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Alan Perlman is a resident of the community of Carmel in the Hebron Hills region and a technical writer. Perlman has a master's degree in social work.
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By Alan Perlman
November 18, 2001
When it comes to harming Israel's national interest, Israel's delusional Foreign Minister, Shimon Peres, is a one-man powerhouse. He just goes from strength to strength.
His previous credits include foisting Oslo on an Israeli public hungry for peace, and rescuing mass murdering, arch terrorist Yassir Arafat from the dung heap of history and turning him into an elder statesman and Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
In his latest move, Peres appeared before the UN and called for the establishment of a demilitarized Palestinian state.
As if to fend off criticism, he pointed out that his vision was not yet current Israeli government policy. Yet, he added, the majority of the Israeli people support the creation of such a Palestinian state.
From every perspective, Peres's speech at the UN is highly problematic.
First, does he, and can he, really know that the majority of Israelis support the creation of a Palestinian state?
Such an assertion is gratuitous at best. The Labor party habitually presents itself as the true torchbearer of Israel's "silent majority." But in truth, there has been no referendum on the issue. The closest Israel may have come to such a referendum was the previous election for Prime Minister. Creation of a Palestinian state was the platform of Barak and the Labor party; it was not the platform of Sharon and the Likud party.
In the last election, the Israeli electorate delivered Barak Israel's greatest defeat ever, and delivered Sharon Israel's greatest victory ever. At the very least, those election results suggest that perhaps Israeli faith in the peaceable intentions of the Palestinians, and Israeli support for a sovereign Palestinian state, is not axiomatic.
More important, however, are the ramifications of Peres' disclaimer that support for a Palestinian state is not yet official Israeli policy. The insanity of this disclaimer is matched only by the insanity of Sharon's disclaimer that Peres was only voicing his private opinion at the UN.
First of all, the UN does not invite private citizens to present their personal opinions. They invite representatives of nations to present the official views of those nations. Shimon Peres was permitted to address the United Nations in his capacity as Israel's Foreign Minister and representative of the Israeli government. Peres and Sharon's disclaimers notwithstanding, the world has every right to believe that Peres presented the official position of the Israeli government, under the governance of Ariel Sharon and the Likud party.
Secondly, both Peres and Sharon know that, invariably, proposed Israeli sacrifices become accepted facts, while accompanying qualifiers and disclaimers that protect Israel are readily forgotten.
Thus, for example, when an incompetent Barak embarked on his disastrous negotiations at Camp David, everyone agreed outright that if no agreement were reached, all proposals made at Camp David would be nullified. Yet, following the collapse of those talks, the shining lights of Labor, and the governments of Europe, have forgotten that disclaimer. They all want Israel to resume negotiations from where Barak left off.
Another example is the Mitchell/Tenet understanding. It calls on Israel and the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table, and for Israel to freeze settlements as a confidence builder. But a qualifying proviso calls for an end to the Palestinian military campaign against Israel and a period of quiet before the rest of the understanding is implemented.
Everyone agreed. Yet, Secretary of State Colin Powell has now nullified the no-violence proviso and called for Israel to negotiate under fire.
In short, in a world that is rapidly moving toward recognizing a Palestinian state, Peres's speech will only be taken as blanket Israeli support for such a state. The qualifier that this is not Israel's official position is irrelevant. And Peres and Sharon know this.
The most serious problem, however, is that the proviso calling for the state to be demilitarized will not only be forgotten by the rest of the world, it will be completely unenforceable by Israel. Peres, Sharon, and all Israelis know first hand that when talking about a Palestinian entity, the term "demilitarized" is meaningless. The Oslo accords bear witness.
The Oslo accords provided the Palestinians enormous areas of autonomy. In return, the Palestinians agreed that those areas would remain demilitarized except for a small police force. They promised to use their weapons against Palestinian terrorists, not against Israelis. The Israeli public, wary about arming the Palestinians, were reassured that if the Palestinians turned those weapons against the Jews, Israel would nullify Oslo, retake the autonomous areas, and confiscate all their weapons. They were further reassured that the world would see that Israel had no choice and that the world would support Israel.
Unfortunately, the reality has been the complete opposite.
First, the Palestinians have not honored any commitment to keep the autonomy areas demilitarized. Arafat has any number of heavily armed militias. Tons of weapons of all types have been smuggled into these areas. News broadcasts of Palestinian funerals and demonstrations show that the Palestinian street is fully armed.
Second, the Palestinians freely use those weapons against Israelis. Mortars are fired at Israeli communities with regularity. Guns are fired at Israeli drivers as a matter of course. The number of Israelis murdered since Oslo is enormous.
Third, Israel has been unable to stop the flow of weapons into the areas. And this, despite the fact that the boundaries of the autonomous areas do not touch any country but Israel, and that Israel controls the airport in Gaza. Such may not be the case in an independent Palestinian state.
Fourth, the autonomous areas have become virtually inviolable. Israel hesitates to reenter the Palestinian areas, and when it finally does, it feels compelled to constantly reassure the world that the reentry is temporary. To minimize civilian casualties, Israel often engages in ineffectual actions and exits in haste, leaving its missions unaccomplished. The result is that despite Israel's incursions, the autonomous areas remain one gigantic military base, armed to the teeth.
Fifth, world acceptance of Israel's right to defend itself is a pipe dream. Nothing that the Palestinians do, no matter how heinous, will ever justify in the world's mind an Israeli incursion into Palestinian territory.
The Oslo process, brainchild of Israel's delusional Foreign Minister, has been the biggest disaster ever to befall Israel, and it constitutes a major threat to Israel's security.
Not satisfied with the damage he has already caused, Peres seeks to take his self-destructive Oslo initiative to its logical conclusion -- an independent Palestinian terrorist state at Israel's throat. And Ariel Sharon and the Likud party are providing this Israeli loose cannon with the platforms he needs to advance his agenda.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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